AUBURN, Alabama -- Auburn held Washington State to 3 second-half points en route to a 31-24 win over the Cougars on Saturday. To Washington State, however, Auburn didn't win the game so much as the Cougars lost it.

"We should've won that game. They weren't better than us," Washington State receiver Gabe Marks said. "We're not going to go
back home and just be happy because we lost by a touchdown. We're going to go
home pissed off because we lost that game. We should've won. We had a lot of opportunities. We let up a lot of big plays and didn't capitalize when the defense got soft. We're all disappointed."

The Cougars, 3-9 a year ago in Mike Leach's first season, did find some success against Auburn's defense. They outgained Auburn 464 to 396. Quarterback Connor Halliday threw for 344 yards and a Washington State team that ran for just 349 yards in the entire 2012 season gained 120 against the Tigers on Saturday night.

"We are definitely a better team than last year," said running back Jeremiah Laufasa, whose two rushing touchdowns were one-third of the Cougars' total from 2012. "We played a
good team that was improved from last year but with any team you take away the
turnovers, the mental mistakes, and we could have easily win this game."

Two of Halliday's three interceptions were costly, however. The first, which Robenson Therezie returned 24 yards to the Cougar 28, set up Auburn's first touchdown. And the last one, also by Therezie, came in the end zone with Washington State driving for a potentially game-tying score.

"I just underthrew it. I mean they were in cover 2, so there
was a little hole right there," Halliday said afterward. "It's frustrating because it's on my shoulders turning the
ball over.

"We moved the ball on the on them all night. The only times
we got stopped was when we stopped ourselves with mental mistakes."

Leach said the turnovers were his team's biggest problem and added that he's "curious" how Tigers quarterback Nick Marshall will look after he gains experience. He added that he's familiar with Gus Malzahn's version of the hurry-up offense from Malzahn's time in Tulsa but added that Saturday may have been the first time he's ever met Auburn's head coach.

"I have liked it over the years," Leach said of Malzahn's offense. "I am not sure that today is not the first time I have met him. I might have shaken his hand. I do not remember for sure."

"They are way better than last year," he added of Auburn. "I mean they have had one top recruiting class after another so they are bound to have a great team."

After playing against an SEC team for the first time, Marks didn't seem overly impressed with the Tigers' secondary.

"They were good. They broke the ball up," he said. "They weren't very physical. You hear about the SEC and stuff you think they're gonna be all in your face, but they were playing a lot of off man.

"SEC is a
good conference but we play in the Pac-12 and I think that's the best
conference in the nation," Marks added. "It's not like we haven't played against great
competition before."